"It may help to know that “the shame of thy youth” and “the reproach of thy widowhood” (Isaiah 54:4) describe the condition of the Israelites after being scattered and separated from their close, covenant relationship with the Lord. In this relationship the Lord is often symbolized by a husband whose wife is Israel. The phrases “shame of thy youth” and “reproach of thy widowhood” refer to the times when Israel turned away from the Lord.
Why would it be comforting for Israel to know that her “husband” is the Redeemer and God of the whole earth?"
My thoughts: The role of the husband is to protect, provide and preside. The role of the mother is to love and teach: nurture. I have never looked on our role as the house of Israel in that light and the role of God in the light of a husband. He is to preside (pass judgment), provide and even protect His church. Our role is to love.
"Imagine that one day you were looking at a weather forecast on your weather app, and the forecast reported that a severe storm was approaching your town. This forecast made you angry because you had already made plans to spend the day outdoors, so you threw your phone on the ground and stomped on it. You then proceeded with your plans despite the weather report.
What effect would destroying your phone have on the weather?
This example can be compared to King Jehoiakim’s response to Jeremiah’s prophecies." This quote was from the Goob's seminary class the other day. I thought it was an insightful look at the effect our ranting and railing against what the prophets warn or what the church teaches has...it only makes us less prepared for what is, in reality, going to happen if we ignore the warnings to prepare, to change.
I came across an article this morning that was very moving. It started by referencing the following story in the scriptures and asked, What did Christ draw in the sand?
The author said: "We’ll never know what he wrote, but I have an idea…
In a temple in Thailand’s ancient capital, Sukotai, there once stood an ancient clay statue of the Buddha, almost ten feet tall. It had been cared for over a period of five hundred years, though no one knew where it had come from or who had created it.
It had endured violent storms, turbulent changes of government, and invading armies. It was weathered and cracked, but still standing.
The monks caring for the statue worried that the cracks were getting too wide. It needed to be repaired.
One day a curious monk shone a flashlight into the largest crack and was astonished to see a gleam inside.
The clay shell was chipped away to reveal one of the largest, most beautiful, and most valuable golden statues of the Buddha ever created. Today, the statue is estimated to be worth $250 million.
It was believed that the gold had been covered in plaster and clay to protect it during times of conflict and unrest.
“In much the same way,” says mindfulness teacher Jack Kornfield, “each of us has encountered threatening situations that lead us to cover our innate nobility. Just as the people of Sukotai had forgotten about the golden Buddha, we too have forgotten our essential nature. Much of the time we operate from the protective layer.”
This protective layer, our defense mechanisms erected in response to the pain and terror of this life, causes us to do things for which we feel ashamed. We screw up time and time again.
We fight with our spouses and yell at our kids. We turn to our drugs of choice and ourcomfort objects instead of turning to God. We lie, cheat, and steal. We can be petty and jealous, ungrateful and mean, vengeful and unforgiving, lustful and greedy, fearful and prideful.
And we wonder if there is any redemption for us. In desperation and futility, guilt and shame — and yet with a sliver of hope — we think, “What would You do with us?”
Or, when wounded by others, we symbolically fling our offenders before God and demand that they be punished.
In both cases, I imagine Christ stooping down and, pondering how to really reach us, writing some secret in the dirt, some golden key of wisdom that could unlock an invaluable treasure trove of forgiveness, redemption, beauty, and joy, if we were to really understand it.
I like to find videos that go along with our message and "stumbled upon" (was led to) to the following. At first glance (dare I say with the wrong goggles on?) I thought the "out-dated" videography could have little to teach me. How wrong I was.
It made me commit within my heart to look for the gold behind the cracked clay exterior, to see the shining Buddha, the child of God within, the child who is so loved and cherished by our Father in Heaven.
I feel that the message to the Lord lately can be summed up in a passage I read in the scriptures this morning:
Will ye persist in turning your backs upon the poor and the needy, and in withholding your substance from them?
I don't feel I can take a lot of time to do this, but I have had some pretty life-changing thoughts in the past few days and want to capture them as quickly as I can, so please forgive any un-clarity in writing (like that made-up word I just used :)...).
Where to begin...
A dear friend recommended a book, "More Than Happy: the Secret to Amish Parenting," that has been quickly become one of my few all-time classics. So many truths. One thing the author points out as being a key ingredient to the peace and content that the Amish feel is their "connectedness." (That should be a word.) She says it stems from the idea that every decision is made with the mind-set: how will this affect the well-being of our family? Pretty powerful. It is made on an individual level and as parents and I have pondered about the impact this mind-set would have on our society.
Imagine if, on an individual level, people made decisions for themselves based upon the premise: is this for the best of society? I am not talking about the government making that decision for individuals, but an individual recognizing their performance, their actions have an impact on society on the whole and how are they going to govern themselves accordingly.
Back to the smaller scale, how can our actions best bless our community, and in turn our family? A family is more health-fully raised in a community that supports it. To do that, you need to build and support the community. The benefits of this mind-set are best captured in the every day application you read about in this book among the Amish. Each child knows that they are loved, cherished, protected and blessed by their community through the connectedness, the service, the intent to interact and bless that is exemplified among the Amish in the book. They would be the first to admit that they are not perfect (in fact they would be horrified that anyone would think that they would pretend to be perfect!). Yet, they live in a supported community that brings this peace and joy and happiness...this more than happiness through their connectedness and focus on what is best for the family unit.
I tend to draw back "protectively" or selfishly from over-commitment socially. I think each person must make their own call on what is best for them. But for myself, I have felt that I need to share my substance-- my children, my family, our resources, the peace that is within our home and our hearts,--with others. The more I have thought about this, the more I have realized that this will also create that community. It is worth the dinners, the messes, the increased numbers to connect with people, have them connect with my children, work together, clean together, pray together, fail together, cry together and build anew together.
This idea has always been very overwhelming to me. I love the peace and quiet of my home and the overall kindness and stability that reigns in our tiny walls. As I sit down and plan my day in the morning, I almost always pray that the Lord will guide me where I need to go, where I need to serve, and the Lord does...only I haven't recognized it up until now.
Those "interruptions," changes of schedules, last minute arrangements that I have so balked against in the past are actually the Lord steering me where He wants me to serve and to be. Of course at the beginning of the day I will not always have a clear picture of what His will is for me...so He works with me throughout the day with nudges, requests, "catastrophes," etc. I wonder if I would panic if the Lord showed me what he actually wanted me to do during the day :).
Deep breath. Pray and seek for the peace of the Spirit. Eyes on the Savior. Act.
I love the gaze of the Savior in this portrayal of Peter walking on water. I have envisioned Christ gazing at me as I struggle to come to Him and not be overwhelmed or tossed about by the storms around me or the depths below me..."Don't doubt," I hear him say. "Keep coming, Mary. You know it will work out as it always has when you trust me, follow me. Wherefore couldst thou doubt?"
Poem from my darling Avot...she shared this with me as she was preparing for her mission, immersing herself in all sorts of awesomeness. She couldn't help spilling some around and I got to enjoy the fruits of the experience: After All We Can Do By Robbie Pierce I had been in that hole for a very long time- In the dark and the damp, in the cold and the slime. The shaft was above me; I saw it quite clear, But there's no way I ever could reach it from here. I could not remember the world way up there, So I lost every hope and gave in to despair. I knew nothing but darkness, the floor, and the wall. Then from off in the distance I heard someone call: "Get up! Get ready! There's nothing the matter! Take rocks and take sticks and build up a fine ladder!" This was a thought that had not crossed my mind, I started to stack all the stones I could find. When I ran out of stones, then old sticks were my goal, For some way or another I'd climb from that hole. I soon had a ladder that stood very tall, And I thought, I'll soon leave this place once and for all! I climbed up my ladder, a difficult chore, For from lifting those boulders, my shoulders were sore. I climbed up the ladder, but soon had to stop, For my ladder stopped short, some ten feet from the top. I went back down my ladder and felt all around, But there were no more boulders, nor sticks to be found. I sat down in the darkness and started to cry. I'd done all I could do, and I gave my best try. But in spite of my work, in this hole I must die. And all I could do was to sit and think, Why? Was my ladder too short? Was my hole much too deep? Then from way up on high came a voice: "Do not weep." And then faith, hope, and love entered into my chest As the voice calmly told me that I'd done my best. He said, You have worked hard, and your labor's been rough, But the ladder you've built is at last tall enough. So do not despair there is reason to hope, Just climb up my ladder; I'll throw down my rope. I climbed up my ladder, then climbed up the cored. When I got to the top of it, there stood the Lord. I've never been happier; my struggle was done. I blinked in the brightness that came from the Son. I fell to the ground as His feet I did kiss. I cried, "Lord, can I ever repay Thee for this?" He looked all about. There were holes in the ground. They had people inside, and were seen all around. There were thousands of holes that were damp dark and deep. Then the Lord looked at me, and He said: "Feed my sheep," And He went on his way to save other lost souls. So I got right to work, calling down to the holes, "Get up! Get ready! There is nothing the matter! Take rocks, and take sticks, and build up a fine ladder!" It now was my calling to spread the good word, The most glorious message that man ever heard: That there's one who is coming to save one and all, And we need to be ready when He gives the call. He'll pull us all out of the holes that we're in And save all our souls from cold, death, and from sin. So do not lose faith; there is reason to hope: Just climb up your ladder; He'll throw down His rope.
So proud of you, my daughter.
Here is a song that I am listening to now that reminds me of her:
Weeping a little. I think it is hitting what the reality of her not being her means. Don't take it for granted, Mary, this precious time you have with your other darlings!
After all that I can do...what a hopeful message as a very imperfect parent. I look on my little baby and see myself making some of the same mistakes I made with Avot...but a little gentler. I am changing but it sure takes this stubborn heart a while with some things :). Did I do enough? Did I love her enough? Did I show her enough the potential I saw within her, the glory that she has already become?
My son was doing Seminary the other day and he was a little frustrated and tired.
"Mom, Seminary is supposed to be fun. I already know it all and the kids that get online for our Friday meeting are all tired so we don't have fun there either."
I felt sympathetic, knowing he was a good young man and knowing that this is one of the hard things of the Gospel: keeping going when it doesn't feel "fun" or when it just feels repetitious.
"Well," I said, drawing on something I had read or heard lately, "Maybe it is because we know it with our heads but are we doing what we know? Maybe we just need the reminder?"
He shrugged and carried on but I can tell this answer was not one he wanted.
I have thought about this conversation since then and was folding my bedding up this morning when something hit me. I ran into where the Goob was resting in bed after his early morning Seminary session.
"Hey! It's like a weight lifter or a swimmer! They go through the same strokes, again and again, or do the same exercises again and again, but each time, like the weight lifter, they add more weights. Only the process is spiritual and it is God that is adding the weight, creating that deeper strength as we do those repetitious exercises.
"Two people can sit in the same Sunday School lesson (do the same exercise) and one can be really pushing themselves to put on the "extra weight" or really humble themselves and open themselves up to what they can get out that lesson and the other is just going through the motions.
"Hey, that's cool, mom," the Goob replied thoughtfully. "I really like that analogy. Thanks."
As I left he called out, "You should share that with the world."
Here I am. As sharing as I can get :).
I can open up my scriptures (picking up the bar or getting into the water) and then pray, ponder, study and apply (put on weights or add those flippers to create speed and strength) or I can just go through the motions (lift an empty bar...doggy paddle). Which one will create that deeper spiritual strength, that increased capacity to discern spiritual truths? Which one will make me ready to stand on that spiritual Olympic platform to inspire millions or prepare me for my part in the very real spiritual war that is raging even now in the hearts of men?
Do it. Go to those classes, Do those ceremonies. Read those scriptures and get on those knees and exercise those spiritual muscles. The world needs you. Your family needs you. I need you. We all need each other. No light is so small that, if it is shining, it does not have the capacity to light the lamp of another...
I met a stranger in the night, whose lamp had ceased to shine;
I paused and let him light his lamp from mine.
A tempest sprang up later on, and shook the world about,
And when the wind was gone, my lamp was out.
But back came to me the stranger—his lamp was glowing fine;
